Shark Tank India 5: Elite-Educated Founders Face Rejection Over AI Concerns and Equity Issues
The latest episode of Shark Tank India 5 featured a high-stakes pitch from Sovrenn, a stock trading platform founded by individuals with prestigious educational backgrounds from IIT and IIM. Despite their impressive credentials, the founders walked away without a deal after Sharks raised significant concerns about the company's lack of AI integration and questionable equity distribution.
Sovrenn's Pitch and Founders' Illustrious Backgrounds
Sovrenn is a comprehensive platform dedicated to stock discovery, analysis, tracking, and financial education. Founded in 2023 by Akriti Swaroop, Aditya Joshi, and Apoorva Joshi, the company has amassed over 1.25 lakh subscribers. It operates as a data consolidation service without offering advisory roles for trading. The founders, who have bootstrapped the venture, entered the Shark Tank seeking an investment of Rs 1 crore for 1 percent equity, valuing the company at Rs 100 crores.
What immediately caught the Sharks' attention was the founders' exceptional academic and professional achievements:
- Akriti Swaroop holds an engineering degree from IIT Khadakpur, an MBA from IIM Calcutta, and is a CFA charter holder. She also boasts five years of experience at Deutsche Bank.
- Aditya Joshi graduated from IIT Delhi with a silver medal, completed his MBA from IIM Calcutta as a rank holder, worked at BCG for six years, and spent 1.5 years at Lenskart under Peyush Bansal.
- Apoorva Joshi, Aditya's sister, earned a B.Tech in Chemical Engineering from IIT Delhi.
Aman Gupta humorously remarked, "Aap toh bade padhe likhe ho yaar", highlighting their elite backgrounds. However, Anupam Mittal pointedly commented on Aditya's career shift, saying, "Tumhaari gaadi chadti bohot acchi hai, lekin utarti ek dum dhug se, BCG se sidha Lenskart", questioning the trajectory from a top consultancy to a corporate role.
Financial Performance and Sharks' Major Concerns
The founders disclosed strong financials, with net revenues of Rs 3 crore in 2024-25, Rs 2 crore in 2023-24, and Rs 1.4 crore by October 2025-26. Despite these numbers, the Sharks identified critical flaws that led to their unanimous rejection.
Key issues raised by the Sharks included:
- Lack of AI Integration: Aman Gupta, Kunal Bahl, and Anupam Mittal expressed dismay over Sovrenn's manual-driven approach and absence of AI in their roadmap. Kunal Bahl questioned, "Kahi hum peeche toh nahi reh gaye, has the AI race overtaken us?", emphasizing the competitive necessity of technology.
- Equity Split Disparity: The share distribution became a major point of contention. Aditya owned 92.99 percent, Apoorva 5 percent, and Akriti only 2 percent. Aman and Anupam criticized this as unfair, with Anupam suggesting, "Then, given her 50 percent", if they worked equally hard. Mohit Yadav questioned Akriti's satisfaction with her minimal stake.
- No Advisory Role: Mohit Yadav was disappointed that Sovrenn refused to offer trading advisory services, even in the future, limiting its utility for investors.
Sharks' Verdict and Founders' Reaction
All Sharks opted out of the deal, providing candid feedback. Anupam Mittal stated, "Seeing your cohort conversion, I feel somewhere you are lying to yourself... To me its not an investible business today. Start embracing AI today, not tomorrow." Mohit Yadav noted the growing penetration in the trading space but found the platform insufficient for user needs.
Kanika Tekriwal shared a personal anecdote, revealing her Marwari background discouraged trading, and she found competing pitches simpler for new investors like herself. Kunal Bahl highlighted a lack of honest feedback around the founders, while Aman Gupta expressed sympathy, noting "disruption is real" due to AI.
As they exited, Aditya Joshi made a pointed remark, "Only good investors can assess the quality of investing knowledge", subtly criticizing the Sharks' decision. This episode underscored the challenges even highly educated entrepreneurs face when their business models fail to align with market trends like AI and equitable partnerships.
